Apparatus for irradiating containers



Dec. 18, 1934. J BUTTQLPH 1,984,457

APPARATUS FOR IRRADIATING CONTAINERS Filed June 6, 19:52

AUTOMATIC BOTTLE FILLING OR HLLING AND CAPPING APPARATUS.

\ vmvme AND TIPHNG GEAR INVENTOR Patented Dec. 18,1934 I UNITED STATES-APPARATUS EFQB m'rmn Leroy r. Buttolph, amt, u. r, i Electric VaporGeneral Hoboken, N. J., a i

i or to me m, l tion oi New Jy i Application June it, rose, No. nurseThe present invention relates to the art of sterilization by ultravioletirradiation, and in particular to the irradiation of containers torender them sterile.

lhe present invention consists in the new and novel apparatus, and inthe novel method, as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

A particular object of my invention is to provide a novel method ofirradiating containers. Another object of my invention is to providenovel apparatus whereby a plurality oi containers may be simultaneouslyirradiated from a relatively concentrated source of ultraviolet. Afurther object of my invention is to increase the utilization of theradiation from such a source. Still other objects and advantages of myinvention will appear from the following detailed specification or froman inspection of the accompanying drawing.

The use of ultraviolet radiations to sterilize containers has long beenbroached, but has never gone into any extensive use. The principalreason for this has been that no simple method had been devised forcompletely and emciently irradiating containers, such as glasses,bottles, cups or the like from a relatively concentrated ultravioletsource, the laclr of eiiiciency in utilization of the ultravioletradiation being en especially adverse factor. I have now discovered thatby means of a new mode of procedure of my invention the entire interior,or other desired portions, of a plurality of containers can besimultaneously irradiated from a. single ultraviolet source, with anexceptionally high degree of utilization of the rays available from saidsource. I have also found that this novel mode of procedure may beeasily carried out in a novel apparatus of my invention, this novelapparatus moreover insuring uniform treatment of each container.

For the purpose oi illustrating my invention I have shown an apparatusespecially designed for the sterilization by irradiation 01' paper milkbottles in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is an elevationalview, in part section, of my novel apparatus, and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same apparatus, taken on the line 2-2of Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawing my novel apparatus has a rectangular housing 1of any suitable material, such as sheet metal. A conveyor belt 2 passesin through one end of said housing, over a support roller 3 and thenaround a pair oi! circular guides 4' afllxed to the side walls oi saidhousing, thence over another support roller 5 and (GE. XML-h) out of theother end of said housing 1. Another support roller t is provided forsaid conveyor belt some aw outside said housing at each end thereof,said rollers 6 being substantially on the level at the rollers 3 and 5,whereby con- 5 venient l and union sections are provided in saidconveyor. After passing over one oi these rollers 6 said belt passesdownwardly into said housing l as, around an idler roller "l below theguides l, and thence upwardly around the other roller die the point oiorigin. Said conveyor belt 2 has a plurality of spring clips 8 attachedthereto at regular intervals, said clips being adapted to retain thecontainers 9 as belt 8 around the guides 4. As here sho these at 9 arepaper mill: bottles and have the conventional frusto-conical shape. Inorder to most eciently utilize the ultraviolet radiation the guides iiare formed with a radius equal to the height oi the cone of which theaforesaid containers are a part, and the bases oi said containers o areplaced close together on the conveyor belt 2, so that as said belt saround mid guides the open mouths oi said centers are brought closetogether. At the center, of curvature of said guides i there is placed asource of ultraviolet radiations, such as the tubr d mercury vapor arclp 1o oi the well imown Cooper Hewitt type, said lamp being preferablypositioned with its axis a transverse to the belt 2. A shallow reflectorii is supported by the housing 1 just above the lamp iii, the uni oisaid reflector extending close to the path of travel oi the containers 9as they move along either end oi the path determined by the guides 4. Aplane reflector 12 ex- 5 tends downwardly from the reflector 11 at apoint near one end of the arc tube of the lamp l0, and substantiallycloses the semi-circular space between said reflector 12 and the openmouths of the containers 9. A similar reflector 13 is placed at theopposite end of said are tube, said arc tube being preferably made ofsuch length that each of the reflectors 12 and 13 slope inwardly. Wherethe belt 2 carries a plurality of rows of containers 9, as shown in Fig.2, a vshaped reflector 14 is placed between each row thereof. Thereflector 12 is conveniently made to support one end oi the lamp 10,while the other reflectors 13 and 14 are preferably slotted to allowvertical movement 0! said lamp therein. The opposite end of said lamp issupported by a. lever 15 which is operatively connected. to the handle16 outside of said housing 1, whereby said lamp 10 may be moved to causethe mercury to oi the housing 1.

connect and disconnect the electrodes therein to start the arc dischargein the usual manner.

The conveyor belt 2 is driven by rotating the roller through anyconvenient-mechanism. In some cases it is desirable to operate thisnovel sterilizer in synchronism'with an automatic bottle filling orfilling and capping mechanism 1'2, which is mounted in juxtaposition tothe point where the sterilized containers 9 are brought out In suchcases the belt conveyor 2 has a series 01' openings (not shown) formedalong the edges thereof, and the driving roller 5 is provided withsuitable sprockets to engage said openings, in order to prevent slippageon said driving roller. The shaft 18 driving the roller 5 and the shaft.19 driving the filling apparatus 17 are likewise driven from a commonsource oi motive power through a suitable driving and timing gearmechanism so, in order to provide the desired synchronization oi thevarious operations.

The leads El. to the lamp to are connected to any suitable source ofenergy through conventional auxiliary apparatus in a well lmovm man ner.The electrical v circuits and auxiliary apparatus of this lamp form nopart oi my invention, however, and hencehave not been shown or describedin detail herein.

In the and operation of my novel apparatus to sterilize containers ii,such as the paper mill: bottles illustrated, the lamp it is firststart-- ed by suitable manipulation of the handle 16. The lamp is thenallowed to burn for about minutes to allow the vapor pressure therein tobuild up to substantially the normal operating pressure, since the itsultraviolet emission is, not obtained with lower pressures. The conveyorbelt 2 is then started into motion and a. container 9 is placed in eachclip 8 just before said clip passes into the housing 1. These containersare then carried in a circular path about the lamp 10 with the openmouths of said containers constantly directed toward said lamp in such amanner that the entire interior is constantly irradiated by the directrays from said lamp. These direct radiations are moreover reinforced byradiations redirected into said containers 9 from the reflectors ll,12,- 13 and it. Thus the interior of each of these containers iscontinuously subjected to very intense irradiation. At the same time theefficiency of utilization of the radiations generated by the lamp ll) isextremely high, due both to the large amount of radiation which is usedwithout reflection as a result of the novel positioning of thecontainers 9 with respect to said lamp, and to the added radiations madeavailable for use in said containers by the various reflectors. Aftersaid containers emerge from the opposite end of said housing they arefilled, with milk for example, and capped, so that intensity quartzmercury vapor arc lamp having an energy consumption in the arc tube ofthe order of 100 watts per inch is employed at a distance of the orderof fifteen inches from the bottom of the containers 9 I find thatirradiation for so seconds is ample to produce complete sterilization ofsaid. containers.

7 My novel method and apparatus is, oi course, especially effectivewhere conical vessels with small months are to he irradiated, since thesir-- cuiar movement oi the containers about the lamp permits a vastincrease in the period during which the interior of said containers canbe irradiated from a relatively small light source. it is, hot.- ever,extremely useful in the irradiation of containers of other shapes, andpermits a greater utilization of the radiations from such a lightsource. invention as applied to the sterilization of empty containers itis to be understood that it is equally applicable to the sterilizationof filled containers, provided the mouths of said containers are closedwith a material which is transparent to ultraviolet radiations.

Various other changes, substitutions or omissions, within the scope ofthe appended claim, may likewise be made, either in the steps of themethod or in the apparatus, without departing from the spirit of myinvention.

I claim as my invention:

In apparatus for sterilizing containers having a frusto-conicel shape,in combination an elongated source of ultra-violet light, means toretain a plurality of said containers, means to support said containerretaining means along an arc Moreover, While I have described my.

about said ultraviolet source, said are having a extending fromseparated points on said source toward the adjacent ends of containerssupported along said arc.

LEROY J. BUTIOLPH.

